The Test
by Faberrittanainthetardis
Summary: Hanna convinces Emily to move in with her but unsure of Emily's feelings for her she puts her through a series of tests. Hannily.
1. Chapter 1

"I don't want you to move in with Spencer."

Emily looked up from her coffee, startled by the sudden statement. She found Hanna staring at her seriously from across the counter. "What? Hanna, you know I can't stay at Ali's…"

"No, that's not what I mean." Hanna stated with a shake of her head. "I just don't want you to move in with _Spencer_."

If anything Emily only looked more confused. "I don't understand."

"Move in with me." Hanna propositioned, leaning across the counter. "It'll be just like the last time."

"Oh…I-I don't know Han, with everything that's going on with your mom, I don't want to impose."

"Nothing's going on with my mom." Hanna was quick to wave Emily's concerns off. "The charges were dropped, remember?"

"I know but you both probably need to spend time alone together." Emily argued feebly. "I'm just going to get in the way."

"Of course you won't." Hanna said with a roll of her eyes. "You know my mom loves you, she practically wanted to adopt you the last time you stayed with us."

Emily couldn't help but smile at that, recalling her many interactions with Ashley Marin. "Still, I think I should just stay with Spencer."

"Come on Em, please?" Hanna practically begged. "I want you there, I _need_ you there."

Emily's brow furrowed in concern. "Is something wrong?"

Hanna sighed softly. "Emily."

"Hanna, if there's something wrong you can tell me." Emily stated gently. She reached out and gripped Hanna's hand. "You know that."

"I know. Nothing is wrong though, it's just that a lot has happened recently and I want my best friend to be close to me, is that suddenly a crime?"

"Of course not." Emily gave Hanna's hand a light squeeze before letting go. "Okay, I'll stay with you. But we have to ask your mom first."

Hanna perked up slightly in response to the unspoken agreement. "I already did, she said it's fine."

"I should have known." Emily shook her head in amusement. "Fine, I'll get my stuff from Ali's house and I'll come over to your house tonight."

"Tonight?" Hanna echoed, slightly disappointed. "What's wrong with doing it right now?"

Emily laughed as Hanna walked around the table. "Why are you in such a hurry?"

"I just don't want you in that house any longer than you have to be okay?" Hanna grabbed Emily's hand and tugged her from the stool she was sitting on. "Come on, let's go get your stuff, it's getting late anyway."

"So I was thinking that if we can somehow monitor A's lair we should be able to keep track of him."

Hanna rolled her eyes at Spencer's inability to focus on anything other than the A situation. "Yeah, that's great Spence but I…"

"Which means that we'll be able to stay one step ahead and we won't be as vulnerable to whatever A has to throw at us next."

"Spencer…"

"I don't know about you but I think it's a good thing that for once we're going to be one step ahead of A rather than two steps behind him."

"Right. Spen…"

"I mean we already know he's a guy which is more than we knew before so we're making progress…"

"Spencer!"

"All we have to do is catch someone walking into the lair and we'll know…"

Hanna released an exasperated sigh and promptly hung up. She scrolled through her contacts until she found Aria's name and quickly pressed dial before lifting the phone back to her ear. She listened intently to the dial tone for a moment before Aria picked up.

"Hey Han!" Aria giggled softly into the phone. "Did you just hang up on Spencer?"

"Yeah, she wouldn't let me get a word in." Hanna answered distractedly. "Aria…"

"You should see her face right now, she's just staring at her phone. It's amazing."

"_Aria_!" Hanna snapped impatiently. "Could you listen to me for one second please?"

"Yeah, sorry," Aria's voice grew slightly more sombre. "What's up?"

"I need some advice." Hanna said, shifting on her bed. She glanced towards the doorway to make sure that Emily wasn't approaching, "The romantic kind."

"Okay, shoot." Aria answered curiously. "I'm listening. Actually, wait a minute Hanna…"

Hanna sighed to herself as the line went quiet. She waited for a couple of moments before Aria returned.

"Spencer wants me to put you on speaker."

"Okay, fine." Hanna said quickly. "But hurry up, Emily is in the bathroom and she's going to be back any second now."

"You're on speaker, go ahead." Aria assured her.

"How do I find out if someone is into me?" Hanna blurted out, casting another glance at the door. "Without them realizing what I'm trying to do?"

"Um…why wouldn't you want them to know?" Spencer asked curiously. "Don't you usually just let someone know that you're into them if you are?"

"It's complicated." Hanna answered, her eyes fixated on the door.

"How is it complicated?" Aria cut in.

"I'm already friends with them. I don't want to screw that up." Hanna admitted nervously. "If they don't feel the same way everything will be weird and awkward and…will you just answer the question?"

"Give them the test."

"The test?" Hanna and Spencer echoed in unison.

"You know…test them. To make sure they like you. There's a list of tests."

"Aria, what are you talking about?" Hanna asked, obviously confused. "What's on the list?"

"I'll send it to you."

"Okay." Hanna was slightly unsure but she figured she may as well give it a shot.

"Why didn't you just ask Emily about this instead of calling us?" Spencer inquired curiously. "Isn't she staying with you?"

"I can't tell Emily, that's the point. She's…" Hanna trailed off, realizing that she was saying too much.

"You like _Emily_?" Spencer interrupted loudly, apparently having figured out what Hanna had inadvertently hinted at. "Since when?"

"I didn't say…"

"You _did_ use gender neutral terms." Aria said, sounding just as surprised as Spencer. "Why didn't you tell us?"

Hanna huffed out a sigh and rolled her eyes skywards. "I didn't know until she almos…" she trailed off, her eyes shifting towards the doorway in time to see the handle turning. "I have to go, Emily is coming. Send me the list Aria!" She quickly lowered the phone and hung up just as the door opened. Emily walked into the room wearing a pair of short shorts and a t-shirt. "Hey!"

"Hey…you closed the door." Emily said as she too shut the door behind her.

"Uh…yeah," Hanna nodded as Emily walked further into the room. "I was…changing."

Emily shot Hanna a puzzled look. "Who were you on the phone to? Spencer?"

"Spencer and Aria." Hanna replied shiftily. "They just wanted to say goodnight."

"Okay." Emily walked over to her own bed and slipped into it, rather tired after the long day they'd had. "Goodnight Hanna."

"Goodnight Em," Hanna responded quietly. She shut the bedside light off and moved to get into bed, turning onto her side. Her phone pinged next to her, the screen displaying a text message from Aria. Deciding to read it tomorrow Hanna closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep.

_Step one: Are they physically attracted to you?_

Hanna thoughtfully chewed her bottom lip as she stared at the screen of her phone. Finding out if Emily was attracted to her was a lot easier said than done. She had no idea where to start with the task.

"Hey Hanna, I'm going out for a run." Emily announced, appearing in the doorway. She leaned against the door and shot Hanna a playful smirk. "Do you want to join me?"

Hanna rolled her eyes. She was just about to say no when something occurred to her. "Yeah, sure. Just let me shower and change first."

"You're actually coming with me?" Emily looked surprised by the agreement. "Since when do you run? Do you even own sneakers?"

"Of course I own…" Hanna trailed off, realizing that she did not in fact own anything other than high heels. "Um…you have some I can lend right? We're about the same size."

"Sure." Emily shook her head with a laugh and watched as Hanna stood up from the bed and made to walk out of the room, "Wait…did you say you're taking a _shower_ before you run?"

"Well yeah." Hanna shrugged as if the answer was obvious. She brushed past Emily and called over her shoulder. "I wouldn't want to go out without showering would I?"

"Of course not,"

Hanna grinned at the fondness she detected in Emily's voice. Aware that Emily was watching her walk away she gripped the bottom of her shirt and tugged it over her head before dropping it to the floor. She paused and looked over her shoulder, more to check Emily's reaction than anything else.

Emily was staring at her, her mouth slightly agape and her hand gripping the edge of the bedroom door in a vice like grip. Hanna shot Emily a small smile before she walked into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. All she had to do was carry out phase two of her plan. Hanna switched the shower on and quickly stripped down. She waited a moment, allowing the water to wash over her body before she moved her hand to the dial. Taking a deep breath she turned the dial all the way to cold. It turned icy almost immediately and she jumped back with a shriek.

"EMILY!"

A long moment passed Hanna heard the loud thud of footsteps approaching the door. Emily burst into the room a few seconds later, a panicked look on her face. She glanced around as if she expected to find someone else in the bathroom with Hanna.

"What?!" Emily turned to Hanna and blushed brightly when she noticed her state of undress. "Um…What happened?"

"The shower is cold." Hanna explained, feigning covering herself up. "I tried to turn the dial but the water is still cold even when it's on the highest temperature."

Emily rolled up her sleeve and reached for the dial in the shower, turning it up to a more acceptable temperature. She positioned her hand under the spray of water and waited for a moment before it warmed up. "It seems fine to me."

Hanna moved her hand so that it was just over Emily's, their fingers lightly touching. "Oh." She glanced at Emily with a warm smile. "Thanks Em. What would I do without you?"

Emily laughed nervously, her gaze briefly ducking to Hanna's exposed body before she looked away again. "Y-you're welcome." She tried to sound calm but her voice came out an octave higher than usual.

Hanna deliberately gripped Emily's hand under the spray. "Is something wrong Em?"

"No." Emily's eyes flicked back to Hanna's glistening body before she pulled her hand away and took a step back. "Everything is fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Uh…" Emily couldn't help but look Hanna up and down. "I um…" realizing what she was doing she looked away quickly. "I'm going to wait for you in your bedroom…downstairs! I-I'll wait downstairs."

"Okay." Hanna watched as Emily turned and hurried out of the room, making sure to close the door behind her. She grinned to herself as she stepped back under the now warm spray of water.

"Test one…check."

TBC.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Thanks so much for the feedback on chapter 1 guys, I'm really glad you like the fic so far. **_

_Step 2: What would she do for you?_

By the time she reached a brisk jog Hanna already had a stitch forming in her side due to the fact that she wasn't all that used to running, unless of course she was running _from_ something.

"Em." Hanna drew to a stop and leaned forward, bracing her hands on her knees.

"Tired already?" Emily teased, stopping in her tracks. Instead she decided to run circles around Hanna much to the blonde's annoyance.

"Show-off." Hanna scoffed breathlessly.

Emily laughed and stopped directly in front of Hanna, holding out the bottle of water she was carrying.

Hanna took the water and took a long drink before handing it back to Emily. "When I agree to run with you I didn't know we were going to run all the way around Rosewood."

"We're running along one running trail." Emily said with a shake of her head. She took a drink from the bottle of water before pressing down on the cap again. "Are you ready to go?"

Hanna resisted the urge to groan. "Yeah, of course. I'm way ahead of you." Without waiting for a response from Emily she took off at full speed along the empty trail. Emily managed to catch up to her within a matter of seconds and quickly regained the lead.

Hanna gritted her teeth together as a deep burn began to build in her calves. She bowed her head, spurring herself on along the uneven terrain. Her lungs burned with exertion and the stitch in her side stung painfully, slowing her down. She managed to run for a couple more minutes before she tripped on a branch on the ground and flew forward with a surprised yell. She landed solidly on the ground and cried out as pain shot through her ankle and elbow.

"Hanna!"

Hanna sat up on the ground, her hand moving to her throbbing ankle. She looked up in time to see Emily running back towards her.

"What happened?" Emily asked worriedly as she crouched down next to Hanna. She didn't wait for an answer, instead nudging Hanna's hands away from her ankle. "Here, let me see."

Hanna sucked in a pained breath as Emily began to loosen the lace on her shoe. "Who the hell leaves a branch in the middle o…ow, ow, ow!"

"Sorry." Emily apologized, finally managing to remove Hanna's shoe. She placed it on the ground before focusing on Hanna's ankle. It was definitely bruised and swelling, that much she could tell just by looking at it. She lightly touched the heated skin, trying to determine whether Hanna had done any serious damage.

"Em, that hurts." Hanna stated in a pained voice.

"Sorry Han." Emily stopped what she was doing. "Can you stand?"

"I think…" Hanna trailed off suddenly, seeing an opportunity. "I don't know Em, my ankle is really throbbing."

Emily carefully placed Hanna's foot back on the ground before standing up and offering her hands.

Hanna grabbed the hands offered to her and allowed Emily to tug her off the ground.

"How does it feel when you put weight on it?" Emily asked thoughtfully.

Hanna tentatively placed her foot on the ground only to lift it back up right away when a stinging pain shot through her ankle, "Like my foot's going to fall off."

Emily rolled her eyes at Hanna's dramatics and glanced up and down the trail. They were about halfway in, making either direction quite a hike. She didn't want to leave Hanna where she was but she didn't want to make her walk the considerably long distance either.

"I can hobble." Hanna offered, noticing Emily's torn expression.

"Are you sure?" Emily asked in concern. "It's a long walk."

"Yeah, I might need to lean on you though." Hanna answered unsurely.

"Okay." Emily picked up Hanna's shoe before carefully easing herself under her friends arm. She lightly gripped her waist to steady her. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah." Hanna nodded and took a stumbling step forward with Emily. She winced as the tiniest pressure was applied to her foot. They took a few more steps, all of which provoked a similar wince from Hanna.

"This isn't working." Emily said, drawing to a stop. "It's going to take us all day to get home at this pace."

"Well I'm not letting you leave me." Hanna stated nervously. "We're in the middle of the woods."

"That's not what I'm saying." Emily said with a roll of her eyes. She eased herself out from Hanna and moved to stand in front of her. "I can carry you."

"What?" Hanna asked, looking surprised by the statement.

"I can give you a piggyback home." Emily said confidently. "It'll be easier than walking."

Hanna opened her mouth to protest but instantly shut it again. "Okay, if you're sure you can."

"I am." Emily turned around so that she was facing away from Hanna. "Jump up."

Hanna placed her hands on Emily's shoulder and trustingly jumped. Emily caught her mid-jump and adjusted her grip so that Hanna didn't slip down.

"Is this okay?" Hanna asked, tentatively curling her arms around Emily's neck.

"It's fine." Emily answered, tightening her grip one more time before she set off at a brisk pace.

XXX

Hanna walked down the stairs with an extra spring in her step, enthused by the positive results of her first two tests. She entered the kitchen and found Emily hovering near the stove, her hips swaying gently in time with the soft music filtering from the radio. Seeing her opportunity Hanna moved quietly behind Emily and placed her hands on her hips. Emily startled slightly in response to the action, having not expected to be touched.

"What are you making?" Hanna rested her chin lightly on Emily's shoulder, pretending to peek into the pan she was holding. She released Emily's hips only to circle her arms around her waist, hugging her lightly.

"Pancakes," Emily answered quietly, her grip on the frying pan tightening. She swallowed heavily at the sensation of Hanna's front pressed against her back, "Sit down, they're almost done."

"I could help." Hanna offered without moving an inch.

Emily laughed at the offer. "I don't think your mom would be happy with me if I let you burn her kitchen down."

Hanna pouted and finally let go of Emily. "Where is my mom anyway?" she called over her shoulder as she walked over to the table and took a seat.

"She left when I came downstairs, she something about wanting to bask in freedom." Emily responded. "I don't blame her."

Hanna hummed softly in agreement. "She was going crazy being cooped up in the house because of her tracking device."

Placing the last pancake on top of the pile she'd made Emily walked back to the table and set the plate down. "How is your foot?"

"Better." Hanna answered, taking a couple of pancakes from the stack to put on the plate in front of her. "Thank you for carrying me home, you're a gentleman."

Emily laughed at Hanna's statement. "You're most welcome my lady."

Hanna grinned to herself and reached out for the syrup. She applied it generously to her pancakes before handing it over to Emily who proceeded to do the same.

"So I was thinking that we could hang out today." Hanna proposed, cutting a small piece of pancake off with her fork. "Since Spencer and Aria are probably still snooping around in Ravenswood."

"Sure." Emily nodded enthusiastically. "What do you want to do?"

Hanna took a moment to think, deciding to test out step two again. "Let's go to the mall, then we can go and get our nails done and come back here and watch a rom-com."

Emily winced at the suggestion. That sounded like the worst possible day to her. "Uh…sure."

"Sure?" Hanna echoed, trying to keep a straight face.

"Yeah, sure." Emily forced a smile to her lips. "If that's what you want to do, let's do it."

"I was kidding." Hanna chuckled with a shake of her head. "We can just hang out here and watch a couple of movies if you want."

Emily visibly relaxed but shot Hanna a faux glare, "That sounds much better."

Hanna looked down at her plate to hide her grin. Step two was definitely a success.

TBC.


	3. Chapter 3

What lengths will she go to for her?

Jealousy.

Flirt with her.

**Thanks again for all of the feedback (and thanks to those who refuted the inappropriatepairings reviewer)! I hope you guys like the chapter. :)**

**Edit: Spencer and Aria are _not_ together, they're just super close because Team Sparia, you know?**

_Step three: Jealousy._

"Are you on your way back to Rosewood?"

"Well, hello to you too Hanna." Spencer stated dryly in response to Hanna's greeting. "What can we do for you?"

"Is Aria there?" Hanna sighed, shifting slightly to hold her phone against her ear with her shoulder so she could remove the lid from the carton of juice she was holding. She poured some into a glass and looked briefly towards the door to make sure Emily wasn't approaching. "This _is_ her phone."

"I'm here." Aria herself answered. "We're in the car so you're on speaker."

"Are you on your way back to Rosewood?" Hanna repeated.

"Yeah, we'll be there in about an hour." Spencer answered loudly.

"More like an hour and a half." Aria corrected. There was a beat of silence before she spoke up again. "What? I'm just saying that we have to stick to the speed limits this time."

"We didn't even go ov…"

"Great!" Hanna exclaimed loudly in an attempt to avoid having to listen to them bickering. "You guys have to come over to my house tonight to watch a movie okay? You can stay over too."

"Okay?" Aria sounded slightly confused. "Why is it so important that we come over tonight?"

"You're part of step three of my test." Hanna answered, grabbing her glass of juice and moving to take a seat at the table.

"Oh no." Aria replied quickly. "No, no, no. I want no part in this."

"What's step three?" Spencer asked curiously.

"It's okay." Hanna ignored Spencer's question in favour of answering Aria. "I'll just use Spencer."

"Good." Aria breathed an audible sigh of relief.

"_What is step three?!_" Spencer stressed. "If I'm going to be 'used' for it, I deserve to know what it entails."

"Jealousy." Hanna and Aria answered in unison. Hanna took a quick drink of her juice before continuing. "I have to see if she gets jealous…that's where you come in Spence. You're part one of the test."

Spencer released a long suffering sigh. "Is this really necessary?"

"Yeah!" Hanna answered immediately. "How else am I supposed to find out if she likes me in that way."

"Oh, I don't know…by _asking _her?"

"That would never work, I already told you why." Hanna said with a roll of her eyes. "Are you coming over tonight or not?"

"We'll be there by seven." Spencer answered, though she didn't sound too pleased about it.

"Great, I'll fill you in on the plan when you get here."

"Great." Spencer echoed back sarcastically.

"What about the first tests?" Aria cut in quickly before Hanna could hang up. "How did she do?"

"She passed." Hanna grinned to herself at the thought, "With floating colors."

"I think you mean flying colors." Spencer corrected.

"Yeah wha…"

"Who passed what?"

Hanna startled in alarm as Emily walked into the room. "Uh…Aria. Passed Spencer's…practice test?"

"Wow, you're a worse liar than I remember."

"You've only been gone for three days!" Hanna exclaimed. "I have to go guys. I'll see you when you get back. Bye!" without waiting for a reply she ended the call and put her phone on the table.

"Spencer and Aria are coming back?" Emily asked as she moved to put away the carton of juice Hanna had left on the counter.

"They said they'll be back in a couple of hours." Hanna nodded, watching Emily approach her. "They're coming over for a movie night tonight, you don't mind right?"

"Of course not, why would I mind?"

"No reason." Hanna answered shiftily. "I just thought I would ask. This is basically your house too right now."

Emily smiled softly and took a seat at the table. She moved her hand briefly atop Hanna's and gave a light squeeze. "Thanks Hanna."

Hanna grinned back at Emily and shrugged as if it were nothing.

XXX

"So run us through this one more time." Spencer ordered, leaning against the counter. "I want to make sure we've got this right."

Hanna rolled her eyes at Spencer's need to be completely informed of the details of a situation but she answered nonetheless. She wanted the evening to go as smoothly as possible and if she had to explain herself more than once to get what she wanted that's what she would do. "Okay, I'm going to use _you_ to make Emily jealous. Basically I'm not going to stay with you for the entire night and I'm going to be really touchy feely…so don't freak out about that, okay? You have to pretend that I'm not acting weird."

"Okay, got it." Spencer nodded resolutely. "As long as you don't kiss me, it's fine."

Hanna rolled her eyes at the statement. "Of course I'm not going to kiss you. That would probably ruin any chance I might have with Emily."

"I'm just saying." Spencer shrugged. "You get kind of extreme when you really want something."

Hanna opened her mouth to make a retort but changed her mind upon remembering something. "Oh, you're sleeping in my bed tonight Spencer."

"_What_?" both Spencer and Aria exclaimed in unison.

"You're sleeping with me tonight." Hanna said slowly. "Why is that so hard to understand?"

"Whenever we have sleepovers Spencer and I always share a bed." Aria spoke up purposefully. "And so do you and Emily, even when she's living with you. Isn't changing that taking things too far? Emily will know that something is wrong."

"You're just saying that because you'll miss Spencer spooning you." Hanna argued with a shake of her head. "Sorry Aria, we're doing this. I have to know for sure."

"Fine." Aria sighed, looking thoroughly disappointed by the revelation.

Spencer reached out and gave Aria's shoulder a comforting rub.

"Okay." Hanna glanced quickly towards the kitchen door. She could already hear Emily running back down the stairs. "Aria you remember that you're my backup observer right?"

"Right," Aria nodded. "Though I'm not entirely sure why."

"In case I don't notice…Emily!" Hanna exclaimed loudly as Emily herself walked into the kitchen.

Emily faltered, shooting Hanna an unsure smile. "Am I interrupting?"

"When are you ever interrupting?" Spencer asked rhetorically. "Are you all set for movie night?"

"Of course," Emily held up the three DVD's she was holding. "I brought the movies. It took me a while to find them because our room is such a _mess_." She glared pointedly in Hanna's direction.

"What?" Hanna asked innocently, trying to supress a grin at Emily referring to her room as 'theirs'. "It's not messy, it's just organized the way I like it."

"So it is messy?" Aria smirked before brushing past Hanna with Spencer. They walked into the living room and Aria almost plopped down on the couch next to Spencer until she remembered the plan. With a sigh she situated herself at the other end of the couch, receiving a regretful look from Spencer.

Hanna and Emily walked in a moment later and Emily moved to insert the first movie while Hanna took a seat on the small couch between Aria and Spencer.

"Why do I get the feeling that this is a terrible idea?" Spencer murmured as Hanna shifted unusually close to her.

"Shh!" Hanna gave Spencer a firm prod to the leg.

"I'm just saying." Spencer grumbled just before Emily turned around.

Emily faltered slightly, her brow furrowing in confusion at the sight of Hanna sitting on the couch with Spencer and Aria. She didn't say anything however, merely moving to sit in the armchair a short distance away from the couch.

Hanna bit her lip, feeling slightly guilty for leaving Emily to sit by herself. Whenever they watched movies, especially scary movies like the one they were about to watch, Hanna would always squeeze into the armchair next to Emily and use her as her own personal teddy bear.

The movie started slowly and Hanna leaned into Spencer's side slightly, keeping a close eye on Emily. A couple of minutes passed before she noticed Emily glance over only to quickly look away again.

Hanna looped her arm through Spencer's and curled slightly more into her, resting her head lightly on her shoulder. Emily glanced in their direction and Hanna noticed her sigh softly. Emily picked the cushion lying next to her up and hugged it to her chest, narrowing her eyes at the movie.

Hanna looked away, Emily's lonely action hitting her like a punch to the gut. She looked at Aria and lightly kicked her to get her attention.

Aria glanced in Hanna's direction, raising a questioning eyebrow.

Hanna tilted her head in Emily's direction and widened her eyes slightly, silently telling Aria to go over there.

Aria shook her head in confusion, clearly unaware of what Hanna was telling her to do.

'_Go!'_ Hanna mouthed.

Aria finally caught on to what Hanna was trying to tell her and she nodded in response. She waited until Hanna looked away before speaking up. "Hanna, would you please _stop_ kicking me?"

"What?" Hanna looked at her in confusion. "I'm n…" she trailed off, realizing what Aria was doing. "No, if you don't like it you should move."

"Fine, I'll sit next to Emily." Aria huffed, standing up from the couch. She moved over to the armchair and Emily made room for her to squeeze into it next to her. Thanks to Aria's small stature it proved to be less of a tight fit than when Hanna and Emily shared the seat.

The room fell into silence again as the four of them refocused on the movie they were watching. Out of the corner or her eye Hanna noticed Emily glance forlornly in her direction. Unable to stop herself she turned her head slightly to meet Emily's gaze only for her to quickly look away when she realised she was caught.

"It looks like step three is a success so far." Spencer whispered, leaning close to Hanna's ear.

Hanna nodded silently, slightly distracted by the way Emily was obviously trying and failing _not_ to look at her.

XXX

"I don't want to do this."

"I don't care." Hanna said as she slipped into the bed. She looked up at Spencer expectantly. "Now get in before Emily gets back."

"Don't you think you're taking this a bit too far Han?" Aria asked from her position on Emily's bed. "Maybe you _should_ just ask her."

Hanna sighed and rolled her eyes skyward. "We don't have time for this. Spencer get into this bed _right now_."

"Fine, I'm coming." Spencer grumbled, moving over to the other side of the bed. She quickly got in next to Hanna, though she didn't do anything to hide the fact that she wasn't happy about the situation. "I just don't want to upset her, that's all."

"She's upset?" Hanna looked past Spencer to Aria with a worried look on her face. "Emily is upset?"

Aria shrugged. "I don't know."

Hanna opened her mouth to reply but she was silenced by the door opening. She glanced quickly in that direction to see Emily walk into the room, clad in typically short shorts and a thin grey t-shirt.

"I bet you regret not sleeping with her _now." _Spencer muttered teasingly, making sure to keep her voice at a volume only Hanna would be able to hear.

Hanna nudged Spencer firmly in the ribs, eliciting a grunt of pain from her.

Emily turned around, her eyes riveting momentarily to Hanna's bed. She paused for a moment, a slightly wounded look appearing on her face before she walked over to her own bed, offering Aria a weak smile.

"I guess we're bunking together tonight then."

"Yeah, I guess so." Aria offered Emily an overenthusiastic grin. As soon as Emily moved to get into the bed, Aria's grin dropped and she shot Hanna a look.

"Why is she glaring at me right now?" Hanna asked Spencer as Aria climbed into the bed with Emily. Receiving no answer she lay down next to her. "Spencer?"

"Just go to sleep." Spencer mumbled, turning away from Hanna. "I'll tell you tomorrow."

Hanna sighed and glanced in the direction of Emily's bed.

TBC.


	4. Chapter 4

**Once again thanks for the feedback, you guys are awesome and I'm really glad you like the fic! I've officially run out of tests so unless you guys have any suggestions (which you should feel free to tell me) there's probably only two chapters left of this I think. But anyway…enjoy! **

"Hanna. Hanna, wake up! Hanna!"

Hanna groaned as she stirred awake to someone prodding her firmly on the side. "Stop it." She muttered, trying to bat the hand away without opening her eyes. "I'm sleeping."

"Hanna!" Spencer's voice sounded loudly right next to her ear and Hanna jerked back slightly, her eyes flying open. She found Spencer kneeling on the bed next to her, a smug look on her face.

"Damn it, Spencer. What are you trying to do, kill me?"

"No, I'm just trying to wake you up." Spencer answered brightly. "You overslept."

Hanna glanced over at the clock and sighed irritably when she saw that it read '7:24am', "Overslept for what?"

"It's Monday. We have school today, remember?"

Hanna groaned and dropped back down onto the bed. "I forgot about that."

"We all forgot about that." Aria spoke up from her position across the room. "Apart from Spencer, of course. I think she's incapable."

Hanna leaned up on her elbows and glanced over at Emily's bed. "Where is Emily?"

"She went out for her morning run about an hour ago." Spencer informed her. "I would have gone with her but I think she's mad at me for some reason." She narrowed her eyes accusingly at Hanna who all but ignored her, focusing on something else entirely.

"She went without me?"

"Since when do you run?" Aria asked, getting up from Emily's bed. She stretched her stiff muscles only to walk over to Hanna's bed and sit down on the edge, lightly nudging Spencer to the side.

"I went with Emily once."

"Once?" Spencer asked sceptically. "And you're already worrying about her not asking you?"

"Emily knows you don't like to wake up too early." Aria said, shooting Spencer a warning look. "She probably just decided to let you sleep for as long as possible, don't worry."

"No, you should worry." Spencer disagreed. "She seemed upset this morning and I think we all know why."

"Upset?" Hanna glanced between Spencer and Aria in concern. "What do you mean? Why is she upset?"

"Maybe you should ask her when she gets back from her run." Aria suggested, trying a more subtle approach. "I'm sure she didn't tell Spencer what's going on either."

"Well yeah but it doesn't take a genius to work out that she's upset about last night." Spencer cut in.

Aria heaved a sigh. Sometimes it seemed like Spencer had no tact at all. "Still, you should talk to Emily about it. Maybe you just pushed too hard last night."

Hanna nodded thoughtfully and ran a hand through her hair.

Aria glanced briefly at Spencer before she focused her attention on Hanna. "I know these tests were my idea but have you thought about just telling Emily how you feel?" Hanna opened her mouth to protest and Aria held up a hand to silence her. "And before you say anything about not wanting to lose Emily as a friend, I know that's not going to happen. Even if she doesn't feel the same way about you, Emily would never just stop being friends with you."

"I know." Hanna muttered, glancing down at her sheets. "I'd just hate for things to be awkward between us. I don't want to risk it."

"At least think about it." Spencer said encouragingly. "Emily might surprise you."

"I'll think about it." Hanna agreed reluctantly. She shoved the covers back and moved to get out of bed, not wanting to continue with the discussion. "I'm going to shower before Emily gets back."

Spencer and Aria watched as Hanna left the room before Spencer turned to Aria with a raised eyebrow.

"What?" Aria asked in response to the look. "You know we can't force her to just tell Emily, even if we think she should. She has to do this in her own way."

"I know." Spencer sighed and shifted slightly on the bed to get more comfortable. "It's just frustrating."

Aria couldn't bring herself to disagree with that.

XXX

Hanna was just heading downstairs after showering and changing for school when she heard the front door open and close. Hearing Emily walk into the kitchen she hesitated at the bottom of the stairs. She waited for a moment before she walked towards the kitchen. She found Emily standing near the open refrigerator, drinking orange juice from the bottle.

"So I'm not the only one in the house who drinks from the bottle. I'll have to tell my mom that."

Emily startled slightly at the sudden statement and quickly lowered the orange juice from her lips. She turned around and gave Hanna a weak smile. "Sorry."

"Don't be; it might keep her from complaining about me doing it." Hanna said, stepping further into the kitchen. She frowned when she noticed the absence of Spencer and Aria. "Where are Spencer and Aria?"

"They went to get breakfast." Emily answered quietly. "They left a note on the fridge." She pushed the fridge door closed to show Hanna the yellow sticky note attached to it.

"I see." Hanna smirked to herself, well aware of what Spencer and Aria were trying to do. At least they'd made themselves scarce. Noticing Emily's gaze drop to the floor Hanna took a step closer. "Em?"

Emily looked up, briefly meeting Hanna's gaze. "I should go and shower before school." She moved to brush past Hanna only for the blonde to catch hold of her wrist.

"Wait." Hanna said, tugging Emily back. "What's going on? What's wrong?"

"I don't know, why don't you tell me?"

"What?"

Emily tugged her wrist away from Hanna's hold and took a small step back. "Did I do something?" she asked apprehensively. "Something that upset you?"

"No!" Hanna shook her head quickly. "Why would you even think that?"

"After last night…" Emily paused for a moment, trying to figure out how to word what she was about to say. "I kind of felt like you were pushing me away so I thought it was because of something I'd done or…"

"You didn't do anything Em." Hanna said emphatically. "I'm sorry I was acting so weird last night I just…needed to be close to Spencer?" Internally cringing at how that sounded she continued quickly, hoping to rectify the situation. "You know what me and Spencer are like, we fight like cat and dog but whenever the other is away we miss each other like crazy."

Emily nodded but looked away.

"I didn't mean to make you feel like I was pushing you away." Hanna continued quietly, guilt heavy in her tone. "I never want to do that."

Emily looked back at Hanna and gave her a tiny, nervous smile. "You're not getting sick of me then?"

"No!" Hanna said instantly, the worry on Emily's face only making her feel worse. "Last night wasn't…I could never get sick of you."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!" Feeling awful for putting Emily through what she had last night Hanna moved forward and hugged her tightly. "I'm sorry I made you think that; I didn't mean to. You know I love having you here."

Emily laughed softly at the sudden embrace and tried to pull back. "Hanna let go, I'm all sweaty."

Indeed Emily was covered in a light sweat from her morning run but Hanna merely shook her head and tightened the hug. "I don't care."

Emily relaxed into the embrace after a moment and lifted her arms to curl them around Hanna's back. Sighing softly she rested her chin on Hanna's shoulder and closed her eyes, allowing herself to enjoy the hug.

"Now go shower." Hanna turned to press a kiss to the side of Emily's head before pulling back with a teasing grin. "You smell like you ran all the way around Rosewood."

Emily playfully swatted Hanna on the shoulder. "Just for that you're buying me coffee on the way into school."

"I was going to buy your coffee anyway." Hanna pointed out smugly.

"Well in that case you can buy me dinner tonight too." Emily grinned before she turned and walked towards the door.

"Hey, Em!" Hanna called before Emily had a chance to walk out of the room.

Emily stopped and turned back around. "Yeah?"

"The hot and sweaty look? Totally works for you." Hanna winked.

Emily gaped at Hanna in surprise for a moment before shaking her head in amusement. "I'm going to shower, don't leave without me!"

"I wouldn't dream of it." Hanna called after Emily, unable to keep the grin from her face. She waited until Emily's footsteps faded away before she spoke under her breath, "On to step four, then."

XXX

Step four: flirtation.

Much to Hanna's annoyance she didn't get to see much of Emily at school at all. Even when lunch finally rolled around, she found out that Emily had scheduled a meeting with her coach. She spent the entire hour of lunch picking at her food while Spencer and Aria gently teased her about being incapable of being away from Emily for more than twenty minutes at a time. Finally the bell for last period rang and Hanna hurried to gather up her stuff, hoping to catch Emily before she left the class. Emily was at the front of the class so Hanna had to hurry to catch up to her as she headed for the door. She almost tripped over in her hurry, earning herself a laugh from another student. She shot the girl a glare and she quickly fell silent.

"Are you okay?" Emily smiled fondly, reaching out to grasp Hanna's arms as if she was going to fall over again.

"I'm fine." Hanna blushed at her own clumsiness. "I was actually wondering if you wanted to hang out tonight."

"Hanna, I live with you." Emily laughed softly as they walked out of the classroom. "We're going to be hanging out whether we like it or not."

"Well if you don't want to…"

"Of course I want to." Emily said with a roll of her eyes. "Besides you owe me dinner tonight, remember?"

"I remember." Hanna practically beamed as she hooked her arm through Emily's. They slowly approached Emily's locker which were thankfully close to the classroom they'd been occupying. "How about the Grille? Will you be my date tonight Miss Fields?"

"I would love to." Emily smiled warmly as they came to a stop next to her locker. Hanna reluctantly released Emily and moved to stand in front of her, "But what about Spencer and Aria?"

"I think they mentioned being busy tonight." Hanna waved the question off. "But what do you say? Will you let me wine and dine you?"

"Okay, I'd be more than happy to accompany you tonight." Emily played along with Hanna's dramatics.

"Great!" Hanna smiled, "I'll pick you up at six?"

"We live in the same house and we both know that I'm going to be driving." Emily shook her head in amusement.

"I'll still pick you up at six." Hanna playfully narrowed her eyes.

"Fine." Emily laughed. "But you better not be late."

"To pick up someone as stunning as you?" Hanna sobered slightly for a moment though her smile stayed firmly in place. "Never."

XXX

Hanna looked up at the sound off footsteps on the stairs. She'd made sure to get there five minutes early just to be sure she was on time. She grinned at the site of Emily bounding down them in blue jeans, a white tank-top and an open, button- down, plaid shirt.

"You're waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs?" Emily grinned when she reached the bottom of the stairs. "If you're not careful I'll start thinking this is a real date." She flushed as soon as the words left her mouth but before she had a chance to take them back Hanna spoke up.

"You look great, Em." Gripped Emily's elbow Hanna leaned close and pressed her lips briefly to Emily's warm cheek before pulling back with a smile. "Are you ready to go?"

"Of course." Emily answered with a nod. "You know we could have just ordered in and watched a movie, you didn't have to go to any trouble."

"Em, we're going around the corner to the same restaurant we go to at least once a week." Hanna pointed out logically. "It's hardly any trouble, all I'm doing is paying for once. It's not like you haven't done the same hundreds of times."

"Good point." Emily conceded thoughtfully. "Lead the way."

Hanna smiled brightly and slid her hand down Emily's arm to grip her hand before leading her towards the door. If Emily noticed anything odd about Hanna holding her hand she certainly didn't say anything, she merely tightened the grip slightly, allowing Hanna to tug her out of the house.

TBC.


	5. Chapter 5

**Thanks for the reviews guys, I really appreciate them! :D**

"Do you really think this is a good idea?" Emily asked cautiously from her position on the couch. She leaned her head back in time to see Hanna walk into the living room with another bottle of wine. Upon returning home Hanna had suggested a 'nightcap' and Emily had agreed, albeit somewhat reluctantly. The bottle of wine Hanna had chosen had been less than half full and it hadn't taken them long to get through it, or Hanna to get through it to be more exact. Emily had stuck to one glass, taking tiny sips and denying any refills offered to her by Hanna. "We do have to go to school tomorrow."

"Of course it's a good idea." Hanna answered, plopping down right next to Emily. She was already well on her way to being drunk and Emily instinctively reached out to steady her despite the fact that she showed no sign of being about to fall over. "We can just sleep it off."

"You're going to have a headache tomorrow morning." Emily pointed out reasonably. She watched as Hanna grabbed the two empty glasses from the table and quickly reached out to take them off her. Hanna wasn't the most coordinated of people at the _best_ of times, "Which means you're going to be grumpy all day."

Hanna didn't respond as she poured the red wine into the glasses, being careful not to spill it. Finally she grinned triumphantly and set the wine down on the table. "I'm never grumpy with you."

Emily chuckled under her breath as she handed over the glass of wine to Hanna. "Maybe not with me, but you will be when Spencer starts banging on the door at eight in the morning."

"I'm always grumpy with Spencer when she bangs on the door at eight in the morning." Hanna purposefully corrected before taking a small sip of her wine. "It's an inhuman hour."

"Your mom is going to be mad at us when she finds out we drank all of her wine."

"Are you kidding?" Hanna shook her head. "She has so much wine in there she won't even notice these are gone, besides they're the cheap nasty bottles she doesn't like."

"Really? I can't tell the difference."

"Because all wine tastes the same to normal people." Hanna shifted closer to Emily and curled into her side, wrapping and arm loosely around her waist. Emily tensed slightly for a moment, obviously surprised by the sudden movement but quickly relaxed. They sat in content silence for a moment, listening to the soft music that filtered from Hanna's docking station before Emily spoke up softly.

"Thank you for taking me out tonight, it was a nice change."

Hanna chuckled softly into Emily's shoulder. "You don't have to keep thanking me Em. I owed you that dinner, remember?"

"If you say so," Emily grinned, setting her almost empty glass down on the arm of the couch. "You still didn't have to pay for _everything_ we ordered."

"What are you talking about? We didn't order much."

"Han, you made me order _two_ deserts."

"We shared one of those deserts." Hanna grinned, shuffling back slightly. She remained close to Emily but pulled back enough to look at her. "And it was for my benefit anyway." It was true, Hanna had wanted to order the chocolate cake because it looked amazing but she hadn't wanted to eat the entire thing herself so she'd talked Emily into eating the other half.

"Fine," Emily conceded, playfully narrowing her eyes. "But I'm paying the next time we go out for dinner. Deal?"

"Deal." Hanna smiled winningly. "You should pick me up on Friday at seven, I think I'm free."

"Oh you are?" Emily laughed softly at the gentle demand. "You should check your schedule and get back to me with an answer. I like to be prepared for my dates you know."

Hanna beamed at the answer and shuffled slightly closer to Emily after setting her empty glass on the coffee table. Her expression sobered slightly and Emily instantly looked worried. "I'm glad you decided to stay here instead of with Spencer." Hanna said softly, her hand lingering on Emily's leg.

"Me too." Emily responded, her eyes twinkling in the dim light. "Though I'm fairly certain people think there's something going on between us now."

"Let them think that." Hanna said with a shrug. "There's nobody I'd rather be accused of dating than the prettiest girl in Rosewood."

Emily laughed softly and averted her gaze, blushing a deep pink. "You're drunk."

"No, I'm just not blind." Hanna reached up to lightly touch Emily's cheek and Emily's eyes flicked up again to meet hers. "I'm serious. You're a real catch."

"A real catch?" Emily smirked at Hanna's wording. "I think you've been watching too many old movies lately."

"Maybe." Hanna carefully tucked a strand of hair behind Emily's ear. "But I still know what I'm talking about."

Emily exhaled slowly as Hanna's fingers traced her jaw until she was lightly cupping her chin. "Hanna?"

"Yeah?" Hanna whispered, her thumb lightly dragging over Emily's lips.

"What are you doing?" Emily asked cautiously, her voice just as soft as Hanna's.

Hanna's eyes flicked up to Emily's for a brief moment before they dropped back down to her lips. She slowly leaned forward and replaced her thumb with her lips, kissing Emily softly. She felt Emily's breath catch and she didn't dare move for a couple of seconds. Finally Emily began to respond, her hand moving to rest lightly on Hanna's shoulder. Emily's lips were soft and warm and the sensation of them moving against Hanna's own only served to make Hanna want more. She pressed closer, moving her hand to the back of Emily's head as she deepened the kiss, snaking her tongue past parted lips.

Emily jerked slightly, her elbow hitting the glass perched on the arm of the couch. It fell to the floor, hitting the carpet with a thud. It didn't smash but the sound was enough to cause Hanna to pull away.

"I…" Emily blinked as she stared into Hanna's dark blue eyes. "I should clean that up."

"Okay." Hanna whispered, easing back far enough to let Emily get off the couch. Emily hurried towards the kitchen to grab a cloth and Hanna groaned softly, buying her face in the cushion.

Emily came back a few minutes later with a damp cloth in her hand.

"Hanna?" she called softly as she walked over to the couch where Hanna was curled up. Receiving no answer she placed her hand lightly on Hanna's shoulder. The blonde's breathing was even and her eyes were closed. "Of course you're asleep." With a sigh Emily bent down and began to rub the red wine from the carpet with the cloth in her hand. It didn't work very well but the color faded somewhat at least. Emily stood up with the glass and cloth in hand and placed them on the table.

Being careful not to wake Hanna up she reached across the couch and grabbed the throw from the back of it. She gently placed it on top of Hanna and ghosted a hand over the top of her head. She lingered for a moment before turning around to grab the bottle of wine and the glasses from the table in case Hanna's mom came home and saw them. With one last glance towards Hanna Emily sighed and turned the lamp off next to the couch before making her way out of the room.

XXX

Hanna groaned as she was rudely awoken by a banging sound. "What the hell is that _noise_?"

"I'll get it!" Emily's voice sounded along with the thud of footsteps on the stairs as she ran down them.

Hanna groaned and curled her arm around her head in an effort to block out the light and the sound of knocking. Her head was throbbing dully and she had the oddest taste in her mouth, like the remnants of red wine. Hanna's eyes flew open as the memories of last night came pouring back. "Shit."

"What's wrong?" Spencer's voice sounded brightly as she walked into the living room. "Did you sleep on the couch _all_ night? Are you hungover?"

"Shut up Spence." Hanna muttered, forcing herself to sit up. She looked around and found Emily hovering nervously near the doorway. "Sorry Em, did I fall asleep on you or something?"

"You don't remember?" Emily looked partially relieved and yet hurt by the statement at the same time.

"Remember what?" Aria asked as she walked into the room, carrying three coffees in a coffee holder, one of which she handed to Emily on the way past.

Spencer, who had already walked into the room nudged Hanna's feet to the side and took the seat next to her.

"Nothing, it's not important." Emily shifted her gaze down to the carpet.

"Emily…" Hanna started, greatly regretting her decision to play it cool.

"I'm going to head to school by myself." Emily interrupted before Hanna could finish her sentence. "I could use the fresh air, I'll see you guys there."

"It's only eight in the morning." Spencer pointed out in confusion. "I don't even go to school this early."

"I have to go to the library." Emily lied shiftily. "Thanks for the coffee Aria."

"No…" Aria trailed off as Emily turned and walked briskly out of the room. "Problem?" she turned towards Hanna with a quizzical look on her face. "What was that about?"

Hanna dropped her head into her hands and groaned softly. "I think I just screwed up again."

"What did you do this time?" Spencer asked, blowing lightly on the coffee in her hand. "Is this about the test again?"

Hanna nodded and sighed softly as she lifted her head. "I kissed her last night."

"You did?" Aria asked, clearly surprised. She took a seat on the arm of the couch, handing Hanna the last coffee.

"Thanks." Hanna muttered, taking a much needed sip of the warm coffee. "I took Emily out for dinner last night and…"

"Like on a date?" Spencer interrupted hopefully. "Does that mean you told her how you feel about her?"

"No, of course not." Hanna answered as if the mere idea was absolutely ridiculous to her. "I took her out for dinner then when we got back we drank some wine."

"You obviously drank a lot of wine, you look terrible." Spencer noted, giving Hanna a quick once over.

"Thanks Spence, it's not like I don't feel bad enough already." Hanna huffed at Spencer's typical bluntness.

"So how did you end up kissing her?" Aria asked before Spencer could respond. "Did she kiss you back?"

"I was flirting with her I guess and she just…I just kissed her." Hanna answered, recalling the sensation of Emily's lips moving lightly against her own. "She started to kiss me back but she knocked a glass of wine over. She went to get something to clean it up and I must have fallen asleep before she came back."

Spencer laughed despite herself "Nice one Han."

"Shut up, I drank a lot." Hanna stated defensively.

Aria placed a comforting hand on Hanna's shoulder and shot Spencer a look. "Is that why she was acting weird this morning?"

"No." Hanna momentarily bit her lip. "I think that's because I pretended not to remember what happened."

"_Seriously_?" Spencer exclaimed in surprise.

"I panicked, okay?!" Hanna responded loudly. "I thought that she might regret it and I didn't want things to be weird between us so I just let her think that I don't remember."

"Hanna."

"Don't Hanna me." Hanna said, running a hand through her hair. "I messed up, I know."

"You…" Spencer was cut off by the sound of a message tone. "Maybe that's Emily."

"Why would Emily text me after she left an hour early to get away from me?" Hanna asked, reaching towards the coffee table. She picked up her phone and groaned at the sight of a message from a withheld number. "Great, that's all I need."

"A?" Aria asked, leaning over Hanna to read the message. "You're not the only one who can play games. Tell her what you've been doing or I'll make sure she finds out…A."

"Great." Hanna muttered again as she dropped her phone onto the couch.

TBC.


	6. Chapter 6

**So this is the last chapter, thanks for sticking with this fic! And as always, thanks for all of the comments/feedback. **

"Em! Emily, wait up!" Hanna called as she hurried out of the classroom after Emily. She elbowed past someone in her haste and they huffed irritably at her.

"Watch where you're going!"

Hanna completely ignored them, instead opting to call after Emily again. "Emily!"

Emily continued walking briskly down the corridor, showing no sign of having heard Hanna calling out to her. Hanna stopped in her tracks and watched Emily rush away. There was no way Emily couldn't have heard her, she'd certainly called out loud enough. She stood there blocking the doorway for a while until an arm looped through hers and she found herself being tugged down the hallway. A glance to her left assured her that it was just Aria walking next to her while Spencer walked on her other side.

"I think Emily is ignoring me." Hanna said sullenly as she allowed herself to be lead toward Spencer's locker, probably to pick up some books or something.

"Do you blame her?" Spencer asked in disbelief.

"I guess not." Hanna muttered quietly.

Aria gave Hanna's arm a comforting rub. "She probably just needs time to think Hanna, you know Emily. She probably feels bad about what happened last night."

"Why would she feel bad about what happened?" Hanna asked in confusion, "It's not like she did anything I didn't want her to."

"But she doesn't know that, does she?" Spencer asked, coming to a stop in front of her locker. She paused for a moment to turn her locker combination. "In Emily's mind you got drunk and she took advantage of you."

"That is _not_ what she thinks!" Hanna exclaimed, looking horrified by the thought. She glanced between Aria and Spencer in alarm. "Is that what she thinks? I kissed her first, how can she think that?"

"This is Emily we're talking about." Spencer said confidently. She slid the books she was holding into her locker only to remove three more. "She'll feel guilty about something even if it isn't her fault. Especially since you made her think you don't remember what happened. Didn't you say she kissed you back?"

"Yeah, so?" Hanna asked in confusion.

"She probably thinks that she took advantage of you while you were in a vulnerable position." Spencer closed her locker and turned towards Hanna, "Which is why she's avoiding you right now."

Hanna looked to Aria who nodded in agreement with Spencer's theory. Hanna visibly deflated. She knew they were right, she knew Emily well enough to know that she would be thinking exactly what Spencer had said.

"What do I do now?" she asked dejectedly.

"You need to tell her the truth." Aria said gently, "You need to tell her everything now before she finds out from A."

Hanna nodded, a sickening feeling of anticipation forming in her gut. "What if she doesn't feel the same way? What if I lose her as a friend too?"

"Come on Han, that's not going to happen." Spencer spoke up logically. "You know that Emily loves you, she could never just abandon you. We've had this conversation."

"It's going to be fine," Aria added without a hint of doubt. "Whatever happens we'll support you. Both of you."

Hanna nodded, offering Aria a weak smile. "I know you will. I guess I just have to find a way to get her to talk to me now."

"Look on the bright side." Spencer said optimistically. "She lives with you. She can only avoid you for so long."

XXX

"Spencer, I am freaking out!" Hanna exclaimed loudly into the phone, her fingers digging anxiously into the sheets beneath her. "She should have been home hours ago, where the hell is she?"

"She'll be fine, stop worrying." Spencer responded in the most soothing tone she could muster. "It's only ten o clock."

"Yeah, at _night!_" Hanna retorted, "Emily is never out this late and if she _was_ going to be she would call to let my mom know. I'm not worried Spencer, I'm way past worried and right into freaking panicking!"

"Hanna, calm down." Spencer soothed softly. "Look…Aria called Emily an hour ago. She's fine, she sounded upset but she's fine."

"Emily picked up an hour ago?" Hanna asked, her tone filled with hurt. She'd been calling and texting Emily since she'd left school but she hadn't been able to get a hold of her.

"We didn't want to tell you." Spencer said uncomfortably.

Hanna swallowed heavily against the lump that suddenly appeared in her throat. "Oh."

"Hanna…"

Hanna sat up slightly at the sound of footsteps on the stairs followed by a pair of muffled voices, probably her mom and Emily talking in the hallway, "Wait, I think I can hear her. I'll call you tomorrow Spence." Without waiting for a reply Hanna hung up the phone and tossed it onto the bed. A few seconds later her bedroom door opened and Emily walked into the room. Their eyes met for a moment before Emily looked away uncomfortably and closed the door behind her.

"You're late." Hanna observed as she watched Emily move over to her bed.

"I um…I just went out to the movies with somebody." Emily answered, sitting on the edge of her bed. She bent down to unlace her shoes without elaborating.

Hanna did her best to ignore the stirring of jealousy she felt in favour of focusing on the matter at hand. "You didn't answer my calls, I left you like a hundred messages."

"My phone was on silent."

"You picked up when Aria called you earlier." Hanna's tone was accusatory but her voice remained soft. Emily visibly winced but didn't say anything to defend herself. "Emily, we need to talk about this."

"About what?"

"I remember the kiss." Emily froze at the accusation, her fingers stilling on her laces. "Emily?"

Emily shook herself out of her stupor and pulled her remaining shoe off before straightening up to finally meet Hanna's stare. "I'm sorry…"

"No." Hanna interrupted with a shake of her head. "Don't do that Em, I don't want you to be sorry. Will you just come over here for a minute?" she held out her hands and gave Emily a pleading look. "Please?"

Emily hesitated for a moment but she quickly found that she couldn't resist the way Hanna was looking at her. She got up from her own bed and slowly made her way to Hanna's, walking around to the side Hanna was sitting on. When she got within touching distance Hanna gripped Emily's hands and gently tugged her down to sit in front of her.

"Emily…" Hanna paused for a moment, unsure where to start. Her stomach was fluttering anxiously with nerves and she was forced to exhale slowly to calm herself. "I love you, you…"

"But not in that way." Emily concluded, her cheeks flushing slightly. "I know that, you don't have to give me this talk Hanna. It's okay."

"No, just listen to me." Hanna gave Emily's hands a firm squeeze. "I _love_ you."

Emily's brow furrowed slightly in confusion as Hanna repeated herself. "I don't understand."

"Do you remember just before I asked you to move in? We went to Ravenswood and you were almost…" Hanna trailed off, shuddering at the thought. Emily nodded in response and Hanna continued quickly so as not to be interrupted by question. "I remember when I was trying to get you out of that damn coffin; I couldn't stop thinking about what I would do if we didn't get you out in time. And I realized that I can't picture my life without you in it, that I don't know _what_ I would do if anything happened to you."

Emily's lips turned up into a small smile. "Are you trying to tell me that you don't want to throw our friendship away over this?"

"No, that's not what I'm saying." Hanna thoughtfully bit her lip. This was a lot harder in reality than it was when she'd planned it out in her head. "Why do you think I kissed you last night?"

"Because you were drunk?" Emily guessed, a hint of guilt creeping into her voice.

"No, it's…it's because I don't love you as a friend," Hanna said shakily, her nerves getting the better of her. "It's so much more than that."

"You…oh!" Emily's eyes widened in surprise, "A-are you saying what I think you're saying?"

Hanna nodded slowly, her gaze dropping from Emily's for the first time. She focused on their joined hands and forced herself to continue. "There's something else you should know. I've been testing you."

"Testing me?" Emily echoed cluelessly. "What do you mean? Testing me for what?"

"I had to find out whether you liked me in that way or not." Hanna answered sheepishly. She didn't want to admit her underhanded tactics but she knew that if she didn't A would probably let Emily know anyway, simply to cause a rift between them. "So I asked you to move in with me and I tested you."

"Wait…" Emily pulled her hands away, a slightly irritated expression crossing her face. "You're saying that the last few days have been some kind of game? That's why you asked me to stay with you?"

"No!" Hanna exclaimed, instantly shaking her head, "None of this wasn't a game to me Em, I meant it _all_. I just didn't want to risk losing you by blurting out my feelings before I knew how you felt one way or the other. I'd rather have you in my life as just a friend than not at all."

Emily softened slightly at the admission. "Oh."

"Are you mad at me?" Hanna asked in a small nervous voice.

"No, I just wish you would have told me what was going on instead of going through all of this." Emily shifted her hand back to Hanna's knee. "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course." Hanna nodded, sitting up slightly.

"What were the results of your test?" Emily asked, meeting Hanna's gaze intently. "Did you get your answer?"

"Oh…I don't know, I thought I did. You passed all of the stages and you kissed me back last night. Though that wasn't a part of the test, I just slipped up. I was actually hoping you would be able to…"

Emily leaned forward and cut Hanna's rambling off with a firm kiss. Her hand shifted briefly to Hanna's cheek and she allowed herself to linger for a moment before she pulled back by a fraction. "Does that answer your question?"

"Uh…yeah, I think so." Hanna replied softly, a faint grin springing to her lips. "But maybe you should do it again just to be sure. I don't think it's sinking in."

Emily laughed softly at the response and leaned in again, fully intending to do exactly what Hanna asked. Just as their lips brushed together however she pulled back. "How are we going to tell Spencer and Aria?"

"They already know," Hanna said distractedly. She tried to close the distance between their lips again only for Emily to lean back slightly.

"They do? How?"

"I told them how I felt about you. Aria's the one who sent me the test."

Emily rolled her eyes and began to lean in for another kiss much to Hanna's relief. "Wait…" she pulled back again, eliciting a disappointed groan from Hanna. "What are we going to tell your mom? I live here now. I sleep in the same _room_ as you."

Hanna shrugged nonchalantly. "What she doesn't know won't hurt her. Can we talk about this later though Em? I kind of just want to get back to kissing you."

Emily grinned despite herself at the request. "Okay but…" she trailed off with a soft 'mmph' when Hanna sprang forward and recaptured her lips. She giggled softly into to kiss as she was forced to balance herself with one hand behind her so that she didn't fall back onto the bed. She shifted her other hand to the back of Hanna's neck to tug her closer and felt her sigh contentedly into the kiss.

THE END.


End file.
